Homeopathy: National Health and Medical Research Council says Australians 'wasting money' with the alternative therapy

Australians have been told they are "wasting their money" on homeopathy, with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) reporting there is "no reliable evidence" homeopathic remedies are effective in treating health conditions.

The finding, which has been documented in a draft information paper, has been welcomed by some in the medical research community, who argue patients should not pay money for unproven folk remedies.

Doctor Nick Zeps, who was part of the working group that developed the paper, says the evidence that was gathered in the review "would suggest that there is no reliable evidence in many instances that homeopathy has an effect that is different from a placebo".

"If it's no better than a placebo, then objectively you could say that they [patients] were wasting their money," he said.

The finding has been supported by Emeritus Professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales, John Dwyer.

"I think there's no question ... that people are relatively easily hoodwinked into thinking that these preparations might be effective," he said.

"They're told that by homeopaths and naturopaths and others who use these preparations."

The Australian Homeopathic Association (AHA) is defending the treatments, which are estimated to have been used by around 1 million Australians at some point.

AHA spokesman Greg Cope says the approach used by the NHMRC in developing the paper is flawed and fails to consider clinical success.

"Homeopathy is absolutely an effective treatment and people come to us because of the success that they have in clinic ... what the NHMRC have done is looked at a specific type of research," he said.

"What homeopathy seeks to do is use small doses of naturally occurring substances to stimulate a person's natural healing system and get their body fixing problems that they've got."

Mr Cope says he is unable to point to scientific evidence that explains how homeopathy works "because that's not something that's able to be explained".

"Like many things that we do, we don't know how it works, but we do at least certainly know that it does work."

Professor Dwyer disagrees and says the homeopathy industry has "not got a leg to stand on".

"Australians I hope will accept that the peak scientific body that guides our healthcare delivery in Australia has come out with an absolutely crystal clear conclusion ... there is no evidence for any therapeutic effect for any condition from homeopathy," he said.